best banana bread recipe? you decide!

With my last batch of mushy bananas I made the following banana bread. It was good, my step-daughter loved it and that's a good sign. It was moist and almost sticky without being sticky. To be fair I altered the recipe just a smidge, and used one cup all purpose whole wheat flour and a half cup of oat flour. Next time I am going to alter the flours again and see how the results are. But it was yummy!

"Banana Bread

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 large, ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup butter, melted

Grease and flour loaf pans. The original recipe called for two 7 x 3 inch loaf pans but Steph prefers four mini loaf pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, whisk together flour, soda, salt and sugar. Mix in the slightly beaten eggs and mashed bananas. Slowly stir in the melted butter just until incorporated. Pour into prepared pans. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. If you use the mini loaf pans, adjust to about 30 minutes. Just take a peek and if the top is starting to brown and looks cooked, try the toothpick to test for doneness. Let cool in pans for 5 minutes then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

Additional Thoughts:

- Banana size varies drastically. Today I used the largest I have used in the past and the bread was so moist and flavorful. If you have really small bananas, add an extra half.

- What is a ripe banana? Well, I like mine almost all brown with some specs of yellow. Once I used all brown and it smelled a bit like alcohol. I think they were fermenting and on their way to banana liqueur

- Mash bananas well with a potato masher or fork but leave some small chunks. Don’t go all the way to baby food consistency.

- Do NOT over mix this batter. I would not use an electric mixer - just a few circles of the wrist while incorporating the ingredients.

- Do NOT over bake. The moist, banana-y center should be soft and crumbly.

- Let the bread cool completely before storing. The edges and outside will get sticky and icky if you wrap it or put it in a ziploc too soon.

thanks to http://whippedtheblog.com/2008/01/01/my-favorite-banana-bread-recipe/ "